Recent Posts in radio

January 27, 2015

Less than 24 hours after comedian and longtime Hot 97 DJ Cipha Sounds made the news for voicing his frustrations with Hot 97, and revealing he turned down offers to work at 105.1 (unlike Angie Martinez who recently made the switch), Hot 97 has released an "OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON CIPHA SOUNDS" via a press release. The VERY SHORT (and very cold) statement literally just says: "Effective immediately, Cipha Sounds is no longer with WQHT HOT 97 FM. We wish him well on his future endeavors."

Meanwhile, find Cipha Sounds every Friday night as part of the Hip Hop Improv Show at UCB East in the East Village,

UPDATE: Shorty after this post went live, Cipha Sounds posted the following message with his own version of the news:

After 17 years, I'm leaving Hot 97. I¹m changing my relationship status from "it¹s complicated" to "single". It¹s been an amazing ride - from intern to weekends to morning show host to fill Angie¹s seat in afternoons. Many years of incredible, life-changing experiences and enough amazing memories to last five lifetimes. The next move is already underway and I promise it's going to be huge.

January 20, 2015

Rock n' roll impresario Kim Fowley lived to shock, and apparently he wanted to do it after he was dead, too. According to TMZ, Fowley (who died last week), had a last wish: to be featured in corpse fetish mag Girls & Corpses:

According to emails Kim sent the publisher, a photog, and his then-girlfriend -- the singer/songwriter wanted a full spread featuring a group of fetish models violating his corpse.

Kim said, "Snow [his GF] and her fetish friends, could mutilate the body, providing real blood & guts and set my bones and blood on fire." He also said he'd fund the whole thing.

The publisher passed on the really gory stuff, but agreed to shoot his dead body with girls on top for the cover.

But here's the snag. Kim moved on, found a new girlfriend who he married, and she has control of the body. But they can't find her to allow them to shoot the body.

Whether Fowley was serious or just trying to get a final 15 seconds of media spotlight, the jury's still out.

In other news, WFMU will be airing a couple tributes this week. Tonight (1/20) from 6 - 7 PM, "Arial View with Chris T" will feature guest Miriam Linna of Norton Records for an hour tribute. Then on Thursday (1/22) from 9 PM - midnight, Norton's Billy Miller joins WFMU host Dave The Spazz for his show. Norton Records has released four volumes of Fowley series Lost Treasures which culls recordings from 1959 - 1969.

Check out Kim's classic 1977 appearance on Tom Snyder's "punk" episode of The Tomorrow Show below...

December 15, 2014

As mentioned, Tom Scharpling's The Best Show is coming back as an online live podcast. It will return in its familiar timeslot (Tuesdays from 9PM - Midnight, EST) and this Tuesday (12/16) will be the first show. You can tune in via TheBestShow.net.

You may have heard The Best Show do a trial run on Saturday afternoon (12/13) where Tom and engineer Mike played some tunes, took some calls and generally worked out some kinks. Scharpling kept saying "we'll see you April" but obviously that was a joke. The Best of The Best Show box set, featuring the funniest bits from their WFMU years, will be out in March via the Numero Group.

In other news, The Goddamn Dave Hill Show moved from The Best Show's old Tuesday slot to Mondays from 9PM - midnight on WFMU, so no conflict on which to listen to is now.

November 14, 2014

New Jersey's WFMU has occupied a unique position as an independent, commercial-free, listener-supported radio station since its inception in the late 1950s. At its heart is the dedicated station manager Ken Freedman, committed to an unstructured, free- form broadcasting model which has won WFMU acclaim as the best--and perhaps weirdest-- radio station in the tristate area, if not the country. Facing a budget crisis, can Ken rally both his volunteer staff and his listeners to keep the station afloat?

Find out by watching Sex and Broadcasting, a new film about one of our favorite radio stations. It makes its world premiere this Saturday (11/15) at IFC Center in NYC, and then plays again at the same place on 11/17. On 11/20 you can catch it at SVA Theatre in Chelsea. Get your tickets. Filmmaker Tim K. Smith is expected to be at two or all of the screenings, and film subject Ken Freedman should be around too. Watch a clip at Indie Wire and the trailer below.

All three screenings are part of DOC NYCwhich kicked off yesterday and runs through 11/20. As mentioned, the film lineup also includes a "Sonic Cinema" series with films about Elliott Smith, the DC punk scene and more.

November 13, 2014

It was a sad day when East Village Radiosigned off back in May, shutting down their 1st Ave storefront studio, and their many live & recorded radio shows along with it (Invisible Oranges included). But it makes us happy to exclusively announce that EVR will return very soon! The comeback happens via the recently-launched Dash Radio network. The 1st Ave studio is getting a redesign with new equipment and technology. Some EVR programming and DJs will return to EVR 2.0, and there will be new shows and produced specials too. More details and the actual relaunch date will be announced shortly, but the plan right now is for EVR to be on the air before we reach 2015. Stay tuned, as they say in radio-land. Check out the new logos above.

EVR general manager Peter Ferraro, who told us "it feels great to be back!", co-founded Dash Radio with Scott Keeney (DJ Skee), and will also be launching Brooklyn Radio in early 2015 which will be broadcast from an EVR-like, store-front studio on N. 7th and Wythe in Williamsburg. Brooklyn Radio, also on Dash, will be EVR's sister station. More details on that coming soon as well, but meanwhile we have some pictures of the construction you can view below.

In addition, EVR tells us that former hosts of Atlantic Tunnel on EVR, Edward Rogers and Gary (Gaz) Thomas, will have their own station on Dash Radio which will be based around their former EVR show. Other channels already on Dash include Odd Future Radio, Skee 24/7, Dash Indie, XXL, and a SideOneDummy Records presented channel called 'The Basement'.

October 17, 2014

There's a lot of news in the world of Tom Scharpling. Firstly, he announced the return of much-loved, much missed The Best Show, which ran for 13 years on WFMU until going off the air in December 2013. (Dave Hill took over his time slot.) Where is still unknown but its return starts in November with comedy co-conspirator Jon Wurster and engineer AP Mike. Scharping did just announce that the show had a new email address: BestShow2014@yahoo.com. Could this be a clue as to where The Best Show will call home?

In other news, some of Scharpling & Wurster's best Best Show bits are being compiled on a massive, 16-CD box set, which is being released by the Numero Group (!) in March. Here are all the details:

75 calls over 16 compact discs, edited by Scharpling & Wurster (over 50 of them previously unreleased or unaired), a 108-page hardcover book with cover art by Joe Matt that features essays by Patton Oswalt, Julie Klausner, Damian Abraham (lead singer of F*cked Up) and Best Show associate producer Michael Lisk (aka A.P. Mike), a definitive interview with Scharpling & Wurster by Jake Fogelnest, notes on the evolution and inspiration behind each bit written by Scharpling & Wurster, a USB drive with all of the calls plus 4 hours of bonus material, a fold-out map of Newbridge, Philly Boy Roy & Timmy von Trimble Paper Dolls, postcards, and temporary tattoos with The Best Show catch-phrases.

Also, pre-orders come with a piece of the phone Wurster used to make his first call to The Best Show ("Rock, Rot & Rule") and was smashed to bits by Wurster and Scharpling, as can be seen in a video below. When announced, demand was so high it crashed Numero Group's website!

There's a third "secret project" that Scharpling will announce soon. Meanwhile, check out the Scharpling & Wurster box set video, and a special mix Tom made for The Best Show's 14th anniversary (not for folks who don't want to hear a sampled Chris Hardwick repeatedly shout "POINTS!"), below...

September 16, 2014

It's been almost nine years since Clear Channel spun off Live Nation (who went on to buy Ticketmaster). Now:

Clear Channelon Tuesday refashioned itself as iHeartMedia, accentuating how the lines between online and AM/FM radio are blurring at the country's biggest company on the broadcast dial.

"It's not a company with a bunch of old radio stations and outdoor [billboards] anymore," Chief Executive Bob Pittman said in an interview. "We've transformed, so let's now take a name that matters."

iHeartRadio is Clear Channel's digital arm, a Pandora-like online service that also hosts the digital streams of the company's 840 traditional radio stations like KIIS FM in Los Angeles. Effective Tuesday, CC Media Holdings Inc. became iHeartMedia Inc. The company's over-the-counter stock ticker symbol will also change, effective Wednesday.

Streaming is the industry's most promising segment of growth, but tech-centered outfits like Pandora -- the Web's biggest radio operator -- and on-demand subscription services like Apple's Beats Music and Spotify tend to attract the most attention as they race to dominate the burgeoning sector. By recasting itself as iHeartMedia, Clear Channel not only recognizes the company itself has changed but also believes it will get due credit in the tech community for its gargantuan scope, Pittman said. [CNET]

June 23, 2014

In a shake-up of the hip-hop radio world in New York, Angie Martinez, one of the longest-running and most popular D.J.'s on Hot 97, has left that station to join its biggest rival, Power 105.1.

A mainstay for nearly 20 years on Hot 97 (WQHT, 97.1 FM), perhaps the country's most influential hip-hop station, Ms. Martinez announced her resignation from the station Wednesday afternoon. In a post on Instagram, she said only that it was "time to move on, to grow and to be challenged in new ways."

Speculation in the radio world immediately turned to Power 105.1 (WWPR, 105.1 FM), and Thursday morning that station's owner, Clear Channel, confirmed the move by saying that Ms. Martinez would become the new afternoon host on Power 105.1 as well as on one of its Miami stations, WMIB (103.5 FM), known as "The Beat."

Popularity hasn't been an issue with East Village Radio, who counted more than 1 million listeners worldwide a month (this after starting as a short-lived 10-watt FM radio station in April 2003). However, under the Congressional Digital Music Copyright Act of 1998, Internet broadcasters must pay a digital performance royalty for every listener.

"We pay a higher rate for royalties and licensing than Pandora pays. We live in a world where these behemouth music-streaming services keep going in for more capital," said Peter Ferraro, the general manager/head of programming at East Village Radio. "It's almost like we are being penalized for our growth.

"It's very difficult for an independent medium music company to survive in a world where Apple is paying $3.2 billion for Beats by Dre."

I guest hosted more than a few times for DJ Pledge's show and there was something special about having the booth on right there on 1st Ave, having passers-by peering into the tiny room. Invisible Oranges' final show on EVR will be Tuesday, May 20 from 10 PM - Midnight (you can listen to archives now).

East Village Radio is/was founded and owned by restaurant owner Frank Prisinzano (Frank, Lil Frankie's, Supper & Sauce). Frank himself held the meeting where we found out last night, at Lil Frankie's right before our 2nd to last Invisible Oranges show.

May 12, 2014

The five-day RadioLoveFest is coming to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in June, featuring various live radio shows with a variety of performers including Andrew Bird, Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen, They Might Be Giants, and Jonathan Coulton. On June 7th, Ira Glass will host an episode of This American Life live from BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, and though it is being billed as "one night only", it is now two shows in that one night. This is the updated description:

This American Life uses this evening at BAM as a chance to try something it's never attempted before: true stories staged as radio dramas. One of the stories will be an original mini-musical by Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of In the Heights and Bring It On. In another, The Monica Bill Barnes Dance Company will perform while Glass narrates. Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields) is writing and performing a mini-musical of his own, built around a real story from This American Life, and Mike Birbiglia will narrate another true story in his inimitable comedic form.

This American Life is a public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to 2.2 million listeners each week. Another million people listen each week by podcast. It's produced by WBEZ Chicago.

Stephin Merritt, who has a book of Scrabble-based poetry coming out in the fall, also has a show coming up in North Carolina as part of Merge Records' continuing 25th anniversary celebration. His Merge25 performance, not part of the actual Merge25 fest, is instead part of a special Merge parternship with the 'Duke Performances Concert Series', as part of Duke's 'Music in the Gardens' series on the Duke University campus. All shows in that series are listed below: